


Adrenaline's a Helluva Drug

by Shearmouth



Series: Antagonizing Total Strangers [2]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: And the team looks after him, Carlos is the sweetest longsuffering boyfriend alive, Hurt TK Strand, Hurt/Comfort, I love marjan and she needs more screentime, Judd Ryder is a big ol' Southern teddy bear and you won't convince me otherwise, Just some good old fashioned whump folks, M/M, Owen is a good dad, TK is dangerprone even on simple calls, Team as Family, The Firefam, horses can be assholes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23378350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shearmouth/pseuds/Shearmouth
Summary: It seems that even on simple calls, TK can get himself into more random trouble than should be humanly possible.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: Antagonizing Total Strangers [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681423
Comments: 28
Kudos: 394





	Adrenaline's a Helluva Drug

**Author's Note:**

> This show has taken over my suddenly quarantined life, friends. This is just an excuse for my bored self to beat up TK and have his team take care of him, because I love my boy and his firefam and his amazing gorgeous boyfriend.

They had just sat down to eat–Paul had made tacos, and _hot damn_ – when the bell went off.

“ _Ladder 126, deploy, barn fire at a horse farm in south quadrant, coordinates to follow.”_

TK sprang to his feet with the familiar pulse of adrenaline that came with a call, though it faded somewhat with the knowledge that it wasn’t something more severe. Next to him, Matteo shoved the rest of a tortilla into his mouth and sprinted from the table.

“It’s always during dinner,” Marjan groused as they charged toward the firepole.

“Tell me about it.” TK slid down behind Marjan and they hustled to the gear locker. “I didn’t have time to eat breakfast and we’ve had too many calls to eat lunch. The thought of Paul’s tacos has been sustaining me.”

“Oh, didn’t have time for breakfast, huh?” Paul appeared and started yanking on his gear, sparing a moment to shoot TK a lecherous smirk. “Up a little too late with a certain police officer?”

A chorus of good-natured snickers followed the comment. TK’s face heated up.

“All right, all right,” he laughed, not willing to admit that Paul was, in fact, correct. The eight months he and Carlos had been dating were the happiest of his life, and being a little groggy after a particularly aerobic night was a small price he was more than willing to pay.

“Quit yakkin’ and hustle up.” Judd cuffed TK playfully on the back of his helmet. TK smacked him with his gloves in return.

It was how they processed the stress, joking and fucking around. This call didn’t sound too bad, but the drive was always there no matter what the situation– the constant, background push to _go, go, help._ Crisis mode is a powerful tool, and dangerous undiluted. TK knew from experience, from his first months out of the academy, that if you took everything too seriously around the job, burnout was inevitable. Burnout, or worse. He caught himself now and then, getting too into it on a call. Forgetting that the rescuer’s life– his life– mattered too.

The rig rumbled up. The sirens screamed on. TK surged up the back ladder, locked in, and tagged the rest of the team as they took their positions.

It was a solid fifteen minutes to the location. TK smelled it before he saw it. The familiar reek of smoke mingled with something gamier– animal scent, a mammal musk and sweet hay. They screamed down a long dirt road and passed through a copse of aspen trees, and then he saw it– a massive, elegant barn at the center of a dozen acres of green fields. Half the building glowed with fire. Horses ran wildly in their enclosure, screaming with fear.

Tons of fuel, a strong breeze, and a shitload of freaked out, thousand- pound animals. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

“All right,” Owen said through the headset as they drew close, “Judd, you have the most experience with this uniquely Texas kind of situation. Call it.”

Judd cleared his throat. “Okay, we need to get those animals secured. Horses are dumb on a good day, but when they’re scared they’re dumb and dangerous. There’s a dividing fence in the middle of that paddock. We gotta try to get them through it and get that gate closed.”

“Right, Judd, Mateo, you’re on the horses,” Owen said. “The rest of us will handle the fire. It doesn’t look like it’s gone too deep into the structure yet, but I don’t like this breeze. Let’s get this contained before it takes to the fields.”

There was a chorus of affirmatives to Cap’s orders. Then the headset crackled again.

“ _126 be advised, we just got a report of two people trapped in the tack room at the east end of the building.”_

Shit.

“Copy, dispatch.” Owen sounded grim. TK could see why– the east side was already beginning to burn. “Okay, TK and Marjan, you’re going in. Get ‘em quick and get out, that interior’s not going to last long.”

TK looked to Marjan and they exchanged a nod. Marjan’s face was serious, but TK didn’t miss the excited twinkle in her eyes. Goddamn adrenaline junkie– she was worse than him sometimes.

But by the time they geared up fully and got inside, TK felt any excitement tank almost entirely. It was worse, way worse, than they had determined from the outside.

Marjan flanked him. “Stay close!” she yelled. “This is gonna suck.”

“Yep.” They began to fight their way through toward the east side, dodging falling debris and flaming heaps of hay. The stalls were blazing, the wind ripping hot air through the space and feeding the fire. TK glanced up and saw more flame flickering through the ceiling– the hay loft. They had two minutes at most before the whole damn thing came down.

He scanned the walls, squinting, looking for a door or hallway to the tack room.

“There!” Marjan pointed up ahead to their left, where a heavy sliding door seemed to be latched from the inside. They sprinted toward it.

TK pounded on it with his fist. “AFD, is there anyone in there?”

A scared voice, muffled from the wood, cried out from inside. Marjan braced her shoulder against the door as TK shoved it away from the wall. Cooler air wafted into his face.

A man and a woman in their mid-fifties were crouched inside the small room. The woman gasped in terror and relief and lunged forward against Marjan. “Oh thank God, thank God! Get us out of here!”

“Sir, can you stand?” TK reached in and grasped the man’s arm. “We need to leave right now.”

“My- my horse!” The man stumbled up and tried to shove past TK.

“Sir, all the horses are outside, but we need to leave now, this whole building is going to collapse.”

“No, no, my stallion, he’s in his stall– I need to–“

“Billy, he’s gone, he’s gone!” the woman wailed. “We gotta go!”

“No!” Before TK could realize what was happening, the man wrenched himself out of his grip and ran deeper into the building.

“Shit!” TK regained his balance. “Shit! Marjan, get her out of here, I’ll get him!”

“TK, no, we need to fall back!” Marjan yelled.

“I’ll be right there!” TK shoved at her. “I’m right behind you, go!”

Marjan snarled in frustration. She wrapped her arm around the woman and began to run out the way they came.

TK turned and ran after the man. The fire wasn’t so bad at this end, but a dense smoke cut his vision and stung in his mouth. He slipped on his respirator and scanned the flames.

A shout came from somewhere ahead of him, then the shrill shriek of a horse.

“Sir! Where are you?” TK waved his arm through the smoke. “Call out so I can find you!”

A figure appeared to his left. The man was yanking desperately on a sliding stall door. Inside, a massive white stallion was kicking and throwing its head– even through the smoke TK could see the wild roll of its eyes.

“Sir!” TK grabbed the man’s shoulders and tried to pull him away from the door. “Sir, we need to leave right now or we are both going to die–“

“No, I won’t leave him!” The man was wheezing, and TK knew he was on the verge of passing out from smoke inhalation. “He’s the prize stud of this farm!”

Irritation and fear cut through TK. “Listen man, we need to get the hell out of–“

There was there sudden loud crack of wood splintering, a screaming whinny, something pounding the earth. TK saw a flash of pale hair and the white of an eye. Then all the air was knocked out of him and his helmet cracked against something hard.

For a second all TK could do was try and breathe. His vision and hearing flared out. He felt like the battering ram had been taken to his solar plexus. He blinked and realized he was on his back, and something was falling toward him. Something on fire.

Instinct took over. With a shout TK rolled and leaped to his feet. A burning plank smashed into the ground where he lay a second before.

TK coughed roughly. His respirator was secure, so he wasn’t sure why he felt like he couldn’t breathe right. The man– where was–

He scanned the smoky ground. The man was facedown next to the now-open stall door. TK fixed a respirator over his airway and lifted him into a carry. Pain clipped through his abdomen. He pushed it away and started to move.

He could barely see. The fire roared around them, and it was all TK could do to follow the concrete of the barn floor out the way they had come.

There was a flash of light and blue sky, and then TK stumbled out into clean air. Judd was suddenly next to him, lifting the man off his shoulders and passing him to the paramedics. TK yanked his respirator off and gulped in cool air.

“Jesus,” he spat to himself, tasting smoke, “that guy really loves his fucking horse.”

000

The barn fire, for all its posturing, went out fairly quickly. TK yanked the water valve shut and leaned against it gratefully, shutting his eyes. Exhaustion draped itself heavily on his bones. There was a weird ache under his ribs.

“Hey, you okay, man?” TK blinked and found Paul looking at him with a furrowed brow and offering a bottle of water. “What took you so long on the inside?”

TK accepted the bottle gratefully and took a deep drink. “The guy wouldn’t leave his damn horse. He ran out of the tack room and I had to go deeper in to get him.”

“Yeah, some people can be a little too dedicated to their studs ‘round here.” Judd appeared behind Paul. Dirt was smeared over his eyes and down his jacket.

“Yeah, I got that.” TK rubbed his eyes. “What’s with the makeup, Judd?”

Judd scowled. “Damn mares didn’t want to cooperate. We slipped a few times.” TK glanced to the back of the rig, where Mateo was putting some of the gear away. Mud– hopefully just mud– caked his uniform from the knees up.

Paul scoffed, grinning. “Texas, man. People are weird down here.”

Judd smirked. “You know you love it, Strickland.” Paul rolled his eyes fondly. He headed to the back of the rig to join Mateo.

TK only half-heard their exchange. He felt weird, clammy and cold even though it was ninety degrees today. A sudden wave of dizziness rippled through him. He pressed him back into the rig and squeezed his eyes shut, willing the world to stop spinning.

“TK?” Judd was suddenly in front of him, resting a hand on his shoulder and looking concerned. “You good, man?”

TK blinked, hard. _Fuck,_ his gut hurt. “Yeah, I’m fine, I…”

He noticed that his breath was coming fast, faster than it should’ve been at the end of a call. His pulse throbbed in his ears.

Pain suddenly tore through his abdomen. TK gasped and doubled over. It felt like he had swallowed fire.

“TK?” Judd’s hand tightened on his shoulder. “TK, what–“

TK’s legs turned to water. He pitched forward and was only saved from faceplanting by Judd hooking his hands under TK’s arms. Judd pressed him back against the rig. He pushed a hand against his abdomen.

The pain tripled. TK yelled and grabbed Judd’s hand. Darkness was beginning to fuzz the borders of his vision.

He felt someone lift the hem of his shirt. He heard Judd swear violently with fear in his voice. Someone screamed for his dad.

Then the dark came in and he remembered nothing else.

000

TK was weightless. Weightless, but tired, and hurting. A sharp scent burned his nose– antiseptic. There was a steady sound to his left, a constant mechanical rhythm. He remembered this, from when he got shot. He was in the hospital.

He slowly became aware of a hand holding his, someone running their fingers gently through his hair. Someone saying, “You gotta stop doing this to me, _cariño.”_

TK knew that voice. His soul knew that voice.

He cracked his eyes open, wincing at the bright lights above him. “Carlos?” he rasped.

“Hey.” His boyfriend’s face– his shockingly beautiful face that made TK’s heart jump even now– swam into view, relief and exhaustion in his eyes. “You with me?”

TK tightened his hand in Carlos’s. As he woke up, the pain woke up too, crawling through his stomach. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m here. What happened?”

Carlos smiled gently. He cupped TK’s jaw and ran his thumb along the ridge of his cheekbone. “You scared me again.”

TK turned his head and pressed his lips to Carlos’s knuckle. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, scared all of us, actually.”

TK blinked again. His dad appeared on the other side of the bed, managing to look both wry, overstressed, and relieved all at once.

He sat next to TK and took his hand. “Once again,” Owen continued, “you managed to put more grey in my already traumatized hair, son.”

TK cracked a grin. “I mean, it’s survived the last twenty-six years and a course of chemo, Dad. You’ll be fine.”

“TK?”

They all looked to the entrance to the room at the new voice. Mateo was poking his head in. He brightened when he met TK’s eyes. “Hey, you’re awake! Guys, guys, he’s awake!” he said over his shoulder.

The curtain was drawn back, and the rest of the team crowded in, grinning. There was a time when TK would have hated to be seen like this, vulnerable and hurting. But God knew everybody here had seen him like that, and worse. They were still here, and so was he.

Marjan shouldered her way to his bedside. The stormy look on her face made TK gulp. She glared at him for a few seconds before smacking him hard on the thigh.

“Ow!” TK yelped. “What the hell, Mar?”

“You said you were right behind me, asshole,” she scowled.

“And I was!”

“Yeah, after getting kicked point blank by a half-ton horse and rupturing your damn spleen!”

TK went still. He looked around to his team. “What? My _spleen?”_

He looked around at everyone and noticed the relief plain on everyone’s face, mingled with a rattled exhaustion. He knew that look– he’d seen it on his dad when he emerged from the coma.

Something heavy dropped in TK’s chest. “I almost died again, huh?”

Carlos’s hand tightened in his. They all knew the risks of the job, and they all accepted them. But TK had cut it close a few more times in the last year and a half than he was comfortable with. Judging by the look in Carlos and his dad’s eyes, he wasn’t alone in that sentiment. 

Judd clicked his tongue ruefully. “Yeah, you got an unlucky streak a mile wide, kiddo. That guy you pulled out was the horse’s owner. Said he saw the stall door break open and you takin’ a hoof to the guts just before he passed out.”

A memory surfaced– the whites of the horse’s eye as it surged from the stall. “I don’t remember all of it,” he admitted. “Just that it started to really hurt when we were cleaning up.”

“You were bleeding internally,” Owen said in that thoughtful, almost curious way that he used whenever he was masking how freaked out he really was. “Went into decomp volume shock. You scared the hell out of Judd.”

TK cringed and looked sheepishly up Judd where he leaned against the wall. “Sorry, dude. I would’ve told you guys, I swear. I really didn’t know I was hurt.”

“Eh, crisis brain is weird, man,” Judd replied. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve all been there. Just next time, try to remember if you get kicked by a horse. Kicked by anyone, really. Lord, TK, I don’t know how you do it, getting into all this trouble on a simple call.”

“Seriously,” Marjan said, glaring at him, “you get shot by a seven-year-old and now this? A horse? A horse, TK?”

TK lifted his hands in mock defense, wincing when the IV shifted in his arm. “Hey, what can I say? Texas hates me.”

“Or maybe you just need to work on your habit of antagonizing total strangers,” Carlos murmured in his ear, making TK shiver.

He turned to glare playfully at his boyfriend. “Wait till I get out of here and you’ll see just how antagonistic I can be.” He smirked, victorious, when Carlos’s pupils dilated and he bit his lip. 

“Yeah, no, that’s me gone.” Paul threw up his hands. “He’s awake for five minutes and they’re already horny.”

Marjan rolled her eyes, longsuffering fondness showing in the twist of her mouth. “Yeah, bye, bitches. I don’t need to watch you two undressing each other with your eyes yet again.” She paused, and took TK’s hand. “I’m glad you’re ok, Teek,” she said seriously, smiling softly.

TK squeezed her hand. “Thanks, Mar.”

She patted his wrist, then went to follow Paul out of the room. Mateo gave him a fist bump and a wide grin, then joined Marjan.

TK looked up to find Judd fidgeting against the wall and chewing his lip.

“Judd?” Owen asked, frowning. “You okay?”

Judd crossed the room and stood at TK’s hip, still shifting nervously. TK swatted him lightly. “Hey, knock it off, dude, you’re freaking yourself out. What’s–“

TK found himself suddenly enveloped in a careful but strong hug from six foot two of trembling cowboy. Guilt suddenly rose in TK’s throat as he realized Judd had been hiding how scared he had been, and how much this could have triggered him. Judd had come miles with his PTSD in the last few months, but TK understood the beast that had taken his dad away for most of TK’s childhood. It could strike with little warning and even less prompting. 

“Shit, I’m sorry Judd.” TK looped an arm around Judd’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. I’m ok.”

“I know, I know y’are,” Judd said. He straightened, sniffling, and wiped roughly at his eyes. “You just scared me, is all.” He cracked a grin, and ruffled TK’s hair. “Looks like I’ll just have to keep a closer eye on your danger-prone ass when we’re on light calls from now on.”

TK swiped at his hand. “Hey, hey, watch the hair! And please, the only person allowed to watch my ass is Carlos.”

Judd rolled his eyes, smiling. He left the room the way the others had gone, muttering fondly about lovesick fools and idiot firefighters.

TK grinned after him before a huge yawn escaped him. That post-surgical exhaustion was creeping back in, tempting him down into sleep.

Owen looked at him knowingly. “Sleep, kiddo. It’s okay.” He leaned in and kissed TK on his forehead before hugging him gently.

TK hugged him back, relaxing into the familiar safety of his dad’s presence. “Sorry, Dad,” he murmured sleepily.

“It’s okay, son.” Owen sat back down, patting TK gently on the cheek. “Like Judd said, we’ve all been there. You, a little more than normal, but hey, that’s why we have a team, right?”

Yeah. TK guessed that was right. He sighed and let his eyes slide shut as sleep began to take him. He eased into Carlos curling his head into the crook of TK’s neck, and relaxed in the knowledge that his Dad was right there watching over him.

Sure, he seemed to attract danger. Seemed to forget far too often that his was also a human life. But TK knew he would be okay with his team watching his back, and reminding him to watch out in front.

And, as it would turn out, brightening a boring recovery by sneaking Paul’s tacos into post-op.


End file.
